| Author | Onta, Basanta Raj |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Master of Engineering in Computer Science, School of Engineering and Technology |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | The most preferred assistive devices for a blind person today are either a white walking cane
or a guide dog. Advancement in technology has also provided various other devices that utilize
non-visual sensory modalities such as smell, hearing and touch. At the same time, Voice over
Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems have made it easier for people to communicate via the Internet.
Voice and video calls between two users are becoming cheaper day by day as the cost of Internet
bandwidth decreases.
We propose a service system that acts as a communication hub in which volunteers register
themselves as sighted helpers. A blind person can then dial a specific endpoint to connect to a
volunteer in a two-way audio and one-way video link. The view in front of the blind person is
captured by a camera he or she is carrying and gets transmitted to the remote helper who is able
to describe the scene in a descriptive manner as possible. The system uses the Session Initiation
Protocol (SIP) for connecting and Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) for transferring media
traffic. We validate the operation of the system with real-life users under different network
conditions: an open IP network, a NAT environment and a 3G network. We experiment with
different available and supported audio and video codecs to confirm acceptable call quality. The
service can be easily extended and integrated with other available services to provide enhanced
services that are mutually beneficial to both the service user and provider. |
| Year | 2012 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Engineering and Technology (SET) |
| Department | Department of Information and Communications Technologies (DICT) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Computer Science (CS) |
| Chairperson(s) | Dailey, Matthew N. ; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Apinun Tunpan;Mongkol Ekpanyapong; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | AIT Fellowship; |